North Branch Area Hockey Association

The NBAHA board is excited to provide professional off and on ice training to our A Mite, traveling teams, and any skater this is in their last year of Mites or U8.  This training will be provided by Dave Perri the owner of Build Your Game Hockey training.  This is a fantastic opportunity for our skaters to continue developing their hockey skills and we are excited to invest in their futures. 

The B2 PeeWee team has already begun sessions at BYG and have very positive comments on the program.  Other teams will start seeing BYG sessions on their calendars in the next two weeks.  If you are in your last year of Mites or U8 and will be moving up to Squirts or U10 next year and you aren't on the A Mite team, your schedule can be found at http://www.northbranchhockey.com/page/show/410241-byg-last-year-mites-and-u8-2011-2012-.

Please let the NBAHA board if you have any questions on this program.  Now, we will let Dave Perri introduce himself and tell you more about Build Your Game

My name is Dave Perri and  I’m the owner of Build Your Game Hockey Training (BYG for short). I wanted to extend you all an email greeting to say how happy I am to have the opportunity to work with you guys this season.

I know that the concept of hiring a professional skill developer from outside of your association is probably new to many of you, so I’d like to explain who I am, what Build Your Game is, and what I plan to accomplish during our sessions together in the upcoming months.

I grew up playing hockey in Minnesota, graduating from Osseo HS in ’02. I then went on to play Junior A hockey, Division 3 college hockey (U of Minnesota, Crookston), and Division 1 college hockey (Wayne State University). As good as my playing career was, though, my greatest talent has always been the ability to break down hockey technique. It’s what helped me excel in my playing days, and it’s what makes Build Your Game a standout hockey training program going on 5 years running.

The skills of each individual hockey player ultimately make up the talent and potential of the entire team. That’s why skill development has become such an important focus within the last decade. Much more is required of hockey players these days than ever before. Many players play hockey year round, joining hockey camps, playing on AAA teams, or even working with private instructors. This creates a problem for players who either cannot afford or do not have the time for quality skill development.

Additionally, parents who do sign their players up for outside hockey training run the risk of paying too much or not receiving a legitimately high level of instruction.

Hockey training can be expensive and players could never get individual training for the low price that I’m able to offer the NBAHA as an association.

Players who play lots of summer sports or simply choose not to play hockey year-round inevitably fall behind those players who do because they’re not exposed to professional skill development. By hiring BYG to come work with your teams this season every player will get the opportunity to be exposed to professional skill instruction during the hockey season.

In my experience I’ve found that coaches are often just as hungry for new information about how to excel at hockey as the players are. Our sessions together will give them new ideas for drills and techniques to practice long after our sessions together have concluded.

In our sessions together I’m going to be showing NBAHA players and coaches modern skill development techniques and how to practice them effectively, particularly in the area of stickhandling and shooting. Not only will I be teaching players and coaches new drills, but I’ll also be explaining the reasoning behind them. My goal is that coaches and players will learn a new perspective on efficient and effective stickhandling and shooting techniques that they’ll be to take with them into their own practices.

1.    I’d like coaches AND goalies to attend all of our practices, both onand off the ice, in order to get the most out of our time together. I also request that goalies who skate out sometimes be dressed in their goalie gear for our on-ice sessions.

 2.    Players must bring their stick and gloves to all of our off-ice training sessions and wear appropriate workout attire (No jeans or boots!).

 3.    Please show up at least 5 minutes early to all of our scheduled off-ice sessions. I design workouts to move quickly and get players as much repetition as possible, and walking in late forces me to take time out to rearrange the group and get the player who walked in late caught up.

If you have any questions about where the off-ice sessions will be held, please take a look at my website, www.buildyourgame.com. You can also find more information about Build Your Game and the individual training packages that I offer. I look forward to seeing you all soon!